Our Approach

Discussions about the future of work often leave out one key stakeholder: the talent of the future.

The ForeWork initiative leveraged open innovation methods to change the dynamics and give this new generation a voice. What do they want from the future of work? What can we learn from early adopters of New Work concepts?

After challenging a global crowd of young professionals to share their ideas and visions, we brought the brightest young minds together in person with corporate executives and international thought leaders to co-create scenarios about the future of work.

Unique Outcomes

This large-scale mass-collaboration session:

Connected brands with innovators, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals all over the world to rethink work

Gave them a stage to share their visions, ideas, and experiences about the future of work

"Crowdsourcing brings together different people, experiences, and perspectives from around the world. We want to be able to tap into this creativity energy provided by the crowd to get innovative ideas for the future of work. Digitalization and networking also mean new opportunities to collaborate, learn, and share knowledge on an interdisciplinary and global level."

Ralph Linde, Head of Volkswagen Group Academy

"The Future of work poses huge challenges – and opportunities for organization. With the next generations of digital natives entering the workplace in a more and more digitalized and connected world, we have to find creative and flexible ideas for the convergence of the digital and the physical space. We need to re-define the 'work space' in the digital context – and eventually the whole concept of work. How could the future of work look like to include all generations in an ideal future working environment or eco-system of work?"

Christian Kuhna, HR Strategy Director Think Tank Talent, adidas Group

"The digital revolution creates amazing opportunities, forging radically new ways to work, live, play, and learn. The Future of Work is about people, their aspirations and their experience, enabled by the intersection of human and digital technology. In this new digital world, we must reinvent how we attract, engage, and develop talent and inspire the best teams. A brand new perspective is needed to redefine the world of work as we know it, requiring all of us to think and act differently."

"Work is in the midst of rapid transformation. Talent needs organizations less than organizations need talent. With our ForeWork Initiative we're adding something new to the discussion about the future of work – we're making it talent-focused."

Bastian Unterberg, CEO & Founder, jovoto

Illustration: www.borjabonaque.com

"With the future of work an ever-growing phenomenon, it’s more important than ever to prepare not just for upcoming changes, but risks. Emancipating the workforce from the regular 9-5, presenteeism, and outdated hierarchies is a huge opportunity, but sacrificing introspection and individuality for open-plan offices and staying switched “on” could create a world of constant distraction and never-ending workdays. Through the ForeWork initiative we can rethink the way we work while also defending human values."

Markus Albers, Author and Partner, Rethink

"The debate about the future of work has grown significantly in 2016 because the way we work has changed a lot in the last few years. How do we increase digital literacy in companies and educational institutions? What are the foundations for a more open and technologically active society? How much are the boundaries between work and life blurring? Where will we work in the future? These and other questions must be answered so that we can adapt to current and future changes."

Raphael Gielgen, Head of Research Trendscouting, Vitra

"Future of Work needs inspiration, innovation, and overcoming barriers - three factors that we have addressed with the Coboat project. Certainly an idea far from our comfort zone, but a concept that stimulates contemplation about what might be possible."

Gerald Schömbs, Co-Founder, Coboat

"We have been dealing with transformations in working life for some time now, particularly the concrete impact on the workplace and future technologies. An exciting aspect of the ForeWork initiative is that young professionals here are directly involved in the creation process. Together we are developing a vision for future working environments."

"We can’t design our future with the traditional methods and attitudes of the last century. To create new ways of work it’s necessary to think creative and as divers as possible cross over company borders, industries or different cultures. I believe in the approach and the strong Open Innovation expertise from jovoto to work with global crossfunctional communities on one of the biggest topics for humans and corporates - the rework of work."

Stephan Grabmeier, Chief Innovation Evangelist, Haufe-umantis AG

"Co-creating how we want to work in the future harnessing young designers and talented creatives was an opportunity we couldn't miss out on. We are supporting jovoto in this wonderful initiative to stretch our imagination to what is possible in the future of work, that is greener, healthier, and happier."

Agnes Uhereczky, Co-Founder, the WorkLife HUB

"At Roam we continuously experiment on and test the boundaries of work, so it was a natural choice to join jovoto on this adventure. We're excited to explore what the future could bring!"

Bruno Haid, CEO & Co-Founder, Roam

“Digitalization is the strongest force of our times that comes along with the biggest changes to our working world since the industrial revolution. While new professions rapidly emerge, traditional ones disappear. Lifelong learning becomes key to individuals, organizations have to adapt constantly to keep pace with new and existing competitors. In this exciting times it is our challenge to seize the potential of creative and skilled minds to create work environments that inspire future generations. WIRED regularly delves into the future of work, through our education program or editorial wise. Thus, we are excited to be part of jovoto's initiative that leverages the united minds of a global crowd to shape the future of work.”

Eike Lucas, Executive Publisher, WIRED Germany

“At COWORKIES we empower shared work environments and their peoples. The ForeWork initiative is a great way to start an in-depth discussions with various professionals and build together a stronger understanding of the future work environments.”

Pauline Roussel, CEO, Coworkies

Looking ForeWork

The ForeWork Initiative hosted a series of brainstorms with creative professionals from 153 countries.

The “Looking ForeWork” project kicked off the initiative together with WIRED to produce content featuring the next generation’s vision for the future of work. 153 ideas were submitted, providing a lot of insights and inspiration to build on.

Jury Award Winners

Design ForeWork

In the initiative’s second project, “Design ForeWork”, participants traveled into the year 2025 to take “Future Snapshots” that show how the physical and digitally-connected workspace have evolved and how teams will work together in the future.

Over 50 submissions showcased the tools and techniques of the future for improving the physical/virtual work environment and team collaboration.